The fiscal cliff deal that almost wasn't

House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday.

It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a “dictatorship” in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal.

The harsh exchange just a few steps from the Oval Office — which Boehner later bragged about to fellow Republicans — was only one episode in nearly two months of high-stakes negotiations laced with distrust, miscommunication, false starts and yelling matches as Washington struggled to ward off $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts.

The White House and Congress knew of the self-imposed deadline for more than 17 months and they still blew past it, as a president fresh off a strong reelection victory tested — and ultimately broke — the Republican Party’s fidelity to its tax-cuts-only governing philosophy.

It took a late intervention of two Senate veterans — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden — to rescue the negotiations. Their relationship, forged over two decades on Capitol Hill, helped move Congress to a resolution because it wasn’t burdened by the raw political conflicts of the past and the legislative fights still to come.

But even those longtime Washington hands couldn’t prevent a New Year’s Day drama in the House. Boehner weathered a revolt against the bill, which played out during two meetings in the Capitol basement in which his fellow GOP lawmakers lashed out at having to accept the measure without spending cuts.

For Republicans flipping out about the lack of spending cut in this bill, consider this the revenue that should have been conceded as part of the 2011 Budget Control Act (yes, a budget!) that cut $1.5 trillion in spending as Republicans recklessly held our credit rating and economy hostage.

So, in the end, the Republicans gave WAY more than they got. Anyone who gripes and moans about the Republicans not willing to compromise - they went from no tax increase - to taxing above $1 million to taxing above $450K - that is a HUGE compromise to get the deal done...the Dems only budged by $200K. The Republicans also did not get but pocket change in cuts...this bill is going to increase the deficit by $4 TRILLION!!!! Seriously? Special perks in this bill for NASCAR and Hollywood? REALLY? Reid wanted to push sequester for 2 more years? What would that accomplish - just more debt and putting off a problem that will only be bigger...perhaps he is hoping he will not be around to have to deal with it by then...but it was a bonehead suggestion either way.

I hope that the Republicans refuse to budge on the debt ceiling and refuse to push back sequester any further unless SERIOUS cuts are made. We have just increased the burden on high earners. It is now time for the rest of us to give something - SS, Medicare and Medicaid HAVE to be addressed. SS ran a deficit last year. No one wants to be the bad guy and deal with the problem. Just do it already. We know it's coming. Have the cojones to stand up and deal with the difficult issues.

I suppose there is some blame to go around, but to be sure, the vast majority of it belongs on the tea-bag wing of the Republican Party. They created the debt limit crisis. They created the Sequester issue. They were the ones who could not look at reality and realize that common sense demands a raise in taxes on the richest if benefits to the poorest will also be cut.

The Republicans could have had larger spending cuts and been seen as bi-partisan had they cut a deal several months ago, but that was too much to ask of the tea-baggers, who rival hard-core Maoists in their drive for ideological purity. So instead, the Democrats win the points and the politics. The Republicans get less than they could have gotten and they look like niilists. Not exactly a good start for 2014.

Now we will have to see what happens on the Debt Limit talks. My guess is that President Obama will get out of their way as they run full tilt off the cliff.

When harder-line Democrats once again prattle on about Republican "ideology" and "partisan intransigence" when they don't get their way, what will they respond when the Senate and House votes on this legislation are mentioned?

Repubs had several ways out of this ultimate humiliation and embarrassment:

1. Allow Boehner cut that grand bargain with Obama that would have added spending cuts, chained CPI,and cuts in Medicare for the 800b revenue and 1t spending cuts (over the 2.5t cuts already from 2011 debt ceiling and budget bills).

2. At the very least pass the Boehner plan B.

Instead, they again showed the same brainless fanaticism that saw them believing their own delusions and polls through November. Now they are still claiming a mandate based on their own gerrymandered maps even while losing the popular house vote. Know when to fold them you morons so you can at least have some credibility next time

@ #2 TruthTeller09: Your last "profession of faith" was incomplete. It might include something about a belief in an America that can afford these things without going broke, which it is, my compassionate friend. When our currency quickly collapses in the wake of abruptly halted borrowing and desperate printing of ever more worthless currency, all the good intent - legitimate, bona fide and I agree with your sentiments - won't do much for anybody.

The irony here for the Republicans is that they could have gotten what they now say they wanted if they had been more reasonable back in the summer of 2011. Boehner has the worst job in the world - he essentially is in charge of running an insane asylum known as the Republican Party. I don't think anyone could lead that group of people in the Republican House and lead them to compromise with anyone about anything.

I keep thinking that the GOP can't do anything more to damage its brand image with the majority of Americans. But they amaze me and continue to dig deeper.

oh braise u folks now believe in Keynes? Well guess what, that is why Obama did not want tax to rise on 98% of America. As well as extended his middle class tax cuts - earned income tax credit and child care credits, and more small business tax cuts. Consumer and demand helps grows the economy. That's Keynes. Not giving more to those with the most disposable income who will simply invest it outside our shores. Learn Keynes correctly.

Now we see the slide into insanity by the tea party regarding the debt ceiling. There will be some truly loopy and quoteworthy comments any minute.

But the back of the loony revolt has been broken with this vote.

"Thank god almighty America is free at last!" (I'm trying to instill that slight lilt that is seems particular to every 'true believer' and fanatic)

However let us not get carried away. The institutional madness that is the republican party has become entrenched by gerrymander and that will take at least a couple of cycles to work its way towards equity. That this was the 'last stand' election in many ways becomes apparent when you look at American demographics. As this slide towards equity asserts itself this will conspire with demographic change to ensure the extinction of the current incarnation of the GOP within about twelve years. But there will be a countervailing voice as that is the nature of a democracy but...where will the next counterbalancing political force come from? What sort of form will it take?

I do hope it is a more libertarian / rational sort of conservatism as that might make some sort of sense in this complex modern world. It also answers liberal humanist polemic with a rational and sometimes reactionary voice that is sometimes even popular.

But anyway, it was a real question: if not this GOP then what sort of conservative voice?

Sorry to disillusion you all, but there never was anything called a "fiscal cliff"!!! It was an illusion created by Obama and his cronies in the Democrat party and their complicit media that created it in order to get a bill passed that would allow:

1) Higher taxes for all

2) More spending on political pork, and

3) Divide the GOP among itself

And guess what...they succeeded!!!

Have you EVER seen ANY government that has taken in more money and NOT spent it??? No, neither have I, and now the Dems have the GOP right where they want them, and there is NOTHING that us Conservatives or Liberitarians can do to stop him!!!!

We ALL know that compassionate Conservatism has worked EVERYWHERE it has been tried, and the GOP has just bent over and made the way clear for a clear and strong Dem majority in the Congress in 2014!!! There is not one thing that we can do now to stop them. And don't anyone of you believe that for one second that the Dems will allow for ANY spending cuts, as SHOULD be done to save the country and its employers!!! It's just NOT going to happen. What comes next is for America's creditors to call in our debt, and there you have it...HYPERINFLATION, just as Germany saw in the 1930's. And of course without the US dollar being backed by ANYTHING but thin air, the fed reserve printing more money every day in order to buy our own Treasury Bonds, we will continue to see the dollar devalued into extinction!!!

Ladies and gentleman, we are well on our way to a depression beyond ANYTHING you have EVER thought possible, and it is just around the corner. You better buy ammo and food like there is no tomorrow because we are about to see America transformed into something unimaginable...the only thing that we can do is bend over and kiss the US of A goodbye!!! This is the ONLY campaign promise that Obama has really kept, and now they will try to disarm us, because they fear us. Remember, a government that fears it's people is a government to be feared, just like Hitler, Stallin, and so many more. Hang on, cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride!!!